TV Guide’s Matt Roush Does an About Face on “The Office”

For those of you who regularly read TVGuide’s Matt Roush, you may know that he hasn’t been the biggest fan of the American version of The Office.  It’s not like he hated it, he just didn’t get the warm fuzzies like most of us did.  In his weekly Monday column, he would often get questions about The Office, and use that opportunity to let it be known that he wasn’t the biggest fan.

Well I’m happy to report that it looks like the season finale swayed even this critic.  Here’s a question from Matt’s latest column.  Make sure you check out Matt Roush’s “Ask Matt” column on TVGuide.com.

Question: I am all a-twitter over last week’s finale of The Office! I have the same butterflies that I had when Ross and Rachel shared their first kiss. Instead of feeling like they jumped the gun and brought Jim and Pam together too quickly in the show’s run, I feel lots of anticipation about the consequences of Jim’s declaration and kiss. And, might I add, Steve Carell did a brilliant job of writing the episode! What did you think of the finale, and are you already looking forward to next season already?

Matt Roush: Since the Jim-and-Pam relationship is by far my favorite element of The Office, I was floored by Jim opening up to her, her awkward response, his tearful departure and then his coming back while she was on the phone, opening up to her mom, for the climactic kiss. Superb. I didn’t see it coming, because I figured she might still be nursing her wounded pride from the week before (when it was revealed Jim had complained about her making her wedding arrangements so public, prompting him to look into a job transfer). Also enjoyed the episode itself a great deal. The more the series uses everyone in the office to score comic points, the better off it is. (The more Michael, and especially Dwight, take too much of the spotlight, the worse it becomes.) Michael’s hatred of Toby slays me. (“Why are you the way that you are?” Michael says when Toby harshes his buzz. “I hate so much about the things that you choose to be.” Hilarious!) And then Toby creams him on the first hand, calling his stupid poker bluff. Also brilliantly done: Jan’s self-loathing at actually accepting Michael’s invitation to the party, then actually being upset that it didn’t turn into a sleep-over. She had good reason to be jealous. The real-estate lady is Steve Carell’s real-life wife, Nancy Walls. And how inspired was the tape of Kevin’s retro cover band Scrantonicity? Given how I felt about the show a year ago after its underwhelming midseason run, I have done a near-total about face on The Office. I look very forward to next season. The Jim-Pam office romance will just be icing on the cake.  

Oh, and I promise I will talk about other shows besides The Office…soon.  I mean, I still need a little time to come down off my season finale high.  Balls of Steel Halpert….balls of steel!!!